Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Holland Lost but still Quite an Experience

(Make sure you click on the picture to enlarge it.

They dropped orange flowers from helicopters!)

After getting back from England, I did not have much time until it was time to go watch some Dutch football. I got home, put away my luggage, did a bit of work, took a shower, then I was off to meet Erik. Shoved down some pizza really quick at his house and we were off to Museumplein in Amsterdam to watch the game. We got there really early so we had a pretty good space right in the middle. We met Kris and Faycal there too. There was an insane amount of people there, thousands. I can't believe the amount of things people were allowed to do in the crowd that was perfectly acceptable such as waving flares, shooting off fireworks (from right in the crowd,) crossing through restricted areas, and many other things. It was really nice to see an atmosphere like this that did not have an overabundance of police. As a matter of fact, I did not see one police officer until we were walking home after the match.

The atmosphere was pretty fun as well, they were playing music and getting everyone ready for the match. Right before it started, helicopters came and dropped tons of orange flowers all over the crowd (check out the picture above.)

It was a shame that the game was so bad and there really was not even a point during the game where the crowd got really excited. Holland ended up losing 0-1 against Spain in overtime. It was sad and people were just walking away not saying much.

Even though they lost, I am glad I got to experience the World Cup in a European country who's team made it the whole way to the finals. I was never really interested in "soccer" before, but now I kinda like it. It was exciting being here from the beginning watching people getting more and more excited after each win, right up until Sunday in Musuemplein watching the last match. I really enjoyed it and am sad that it's over now. Next big event is the European cup which will be two years from now!